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Key Points

  • Contemporary music often calls for innovative and highly virtuosic instrumental or vocal effects that challenge performers to new expressive and technical levels.
  • French composer Olivier Messiaen was interested in nature (bird songs) and in medieval and world musics. His chamber work Quartet for the End of Time was inspired by his deep spirituality and mysticism.
  • Pierre Boulez is France's leading avant-garde composer; recomposition of earlier works (e.g., 12 Notations) is an important aspect of his creativity.
  • In his song cycle Ancient Voices of Children, which uses the voice as a virtuosic instrument, American composer George Crumb set texts by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.

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